


One-Sided Conversations

by thatsoccercoach



Series: Which Door? [14]
Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms, Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-13 22:41:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14122389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsoccercoach/pseuds/thatsoccercoach





	One-Sided Conversations

                                                            

Claire recalled the day she had finally told Jamie about it. She’d worked herself up to the point of being ill, convinced that he’d not be able to see a future past the bombshell that she was about to drop. It was inconceivable (a cruel play on words) to ask a man who valued family above all else to love a woman who couldn’t give him one. Claire had been shocked by his response and yet, she probably shouldn’t have been.

 _PCOS_ she’d whispered, ashamed as if it was something she could control, prevent, or heal. She explained in emotionless medical terms what that meant if he really wanted a future with her. She most likely couldn’t bear him children. It wasn’t technically impossible, just highly unlikely, and one couldn’t pin their dreams on something _highly unlikely_.

“Are ye opposed to adopting?” his brow furrowed in puzzlement. “To taking some wee bairn who doesna have a home? Or a lad or lass who doesna have a place?”

She’d gaped, open-mouthed, at his complete and utter lack of concern; at his total and whole-hearted acceptance of the thought of a child, not biologically their own, becoming a part of their lives.

She shouldn’t have been surprised at all because that was the epitome of Jamie. That was what she loved about him.

He’d continued then, gently, explaining that he loved her for who she was not for her ability to bear a child. He asked her to be honest, to tell him if she even wanted to be a mother or if she had brought it up because she knew it was important to him. She fell in love with him all over again that day.

Today Claire would fall in love yet again.

* * *

She could hear him talking from the other room. In her mind’s eye she pictured him, hair tousled from sleep and flannel pajama bottoms slung low, their daughter cradled in his arms. His deep, mellow voice rose and fell as he went on with his one-sided conversation. Reluctantly she pulled herself from the warm spot between the sheets to go see.

The morning after they finally brought Faith home from the hospital Jamie had begun a new tradition. Claire had slept well, aside from waking to feed Faith, for the first time since their tiny babe had been born. Being home together as family brought such peace to her that she actually slept late and had woken quite surprised to find her husband’s side of the bed empty and their baby not fussing.

Jamie, in nothing but his flannel pajama bottoms had slid soundlessly from their bed, snagging his warm robe from a hook by their door. He’d crept into Faith’s nursery and tenderly scooped their little princess into his arms then, settling her against his bare chest, he’d wrapped them both in the robe. Claire had found them together on the couch “watching” rugby together, Faith’s cheek smooshed against Jamie and cocooned in the robe and his arms.

This morning she was hoping to see something of a similar sort. She never tired of seeing him with Faith. If the one-sided conversation was any indication, she probably wouldn’t see Faith _sleeping_ in his arms though.

What she spied made her heart nearly burst with joy. There they were. Faith’s eyes, fixed on her Da, were wide as saucers. Their smiles, mirrors of one another, were possibly the most heartbreakingly beautiful thing she’d ever seen. She sniffed softly and a tear trickled down her cheek before she realized she was crying.

Then she listened.

“But yer mam,” he glanced sideways at her, catching her eye for just a moment. “She willna like it if ye grow too fast on us now.” Faith rested on his legs and he held her small fists in his large, strong ones. A small grunt came from Faith and her da continued his conversation with her. “Och, I didna say ye couldna grow at all!” Jamie’s eyes were wide and his face close to his tiny daughter. “Just that ye ought to not do it too fast.”

Claire stifled a small laugh behind her cupped hands as she continued to watch her husband and daughter.

“So, ye willna grow too fast then, aye? I’m so glad we have this sorted early on.” Faith grunted again and waved her arms in the jerky manner of young infants. She gave Jamie another open-mouthed smile prompting him to continue. “I love ye, Faith, and yer mam. So much, mo chuisle.”

It didn’t matter if their family grew or how it happened, she was blessed with her husband’s love, with the knowledge that he saw her as a woman who was whole, with their future together.


End file.
